Clare take Cork’s best shot but come out smiling in thrilling Munster clash

Munster Hurling Championship: Cork 3-24 Clare 3-26

In Russian roulette, only one bullet is loaded in the gun. This game had looser rules. Everybody kept shooting. Both defences were massacred. In a match of stunning twists, Clare got out alive. Cork’s season is hanging by a thread now. Not dead. No quality of life.

For a game with so much on the line it was breathtaking, particularly in the second half. Cork went seven points up; Clare went six points up. Everything in between is a blur.

In the middle of the wild scoreboard swing Cork lost Seán O’Donoghue to a second yellow card and in the same episode of play they surrendered the lead for the last time. It was a destructive lapse of judgment from the Cork captain, who body-checked Shane O’Donnell off the ball, while Patrick Collins, the Cork goalkeeper, was in the act of making an unimpeded clearance.

It meant that for the second week in a row Cork were reduced to 14 men and Clare made them suffer in the final quarter. The outstanding O’Donnell scored Clare’s second goal less than five minutes after O’Donoghue was dismissed and David Fitzgerald added Clare’s third goal six minutes later.

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Whatever treatment was administered to Clare after last Sunday’s reckless defeat against Limerick, this was the only cure. They trailed by just two points at the break, having played against a strong wind in the first half, and their response to Cork’s blistering start to the second half was strong-minded.

“When you lose a game, there’s no shame in losing,” said Brian Lohan afterwards, reflecting on last week’s game. “But it was the nature of the loss, the disappointment. Since you’re six years of age you’re told to block the ball and mark your man – those are the things we didn’t do. That’s how we conceded those three goals late. So very disappointing to be at that level of hurling, at that pitch, up against the opposition we were up against, and not to do the basics. Just delighted with the way our lads responded. Delighted to get the win.”

For Cork, it was a sickening defeat. Once again they scored heavily, but were permissive at the back. Defending in the modern game is a 15-man exercise but there are too many kinks in Cork’s execution. They didn’t give their inside defenders any extra protection and too much uncontaminated ball was going in.

Cork couldn’t get a grip on O’Donnell or the outstanding Mark Rodgers, who finished the game with 1-6, including a beautiful sideline cut in the first half. Tim O’Mahony wrestled manfully with Peter Duggan under puck-outs, without winning that battle, and overall Clare were better in the air. The game has evolved in many different directions but primary possession is still the most precious commodity and Clare had more of it.

Cork’s puck-outs were a huge problem again and Patrick Collins’s decision-making and distribution were harmful. Cork have been grappling unsuccessfully with this issue for far too long.

Unlike a week ago, Cork brought aggression from the start. On the sideline the Cork management was much more animated, and all over the place the body language was different. After a week of hand-wringing and finger-pointing Cork were bound to bring something.

A late surge of scores put them 0-14 to 0-12 in front at the break, but they trailed by a point or two for most of the first half, and crucially, missed three goal chances. Darragh Fitzgibbon had a low shot blocked by the embattled Eibhear Quilligan, Alan Connolly kissed the top of the crossbar with an overhead bat, and Quilligan made a comfortable save from a rejuvenated Patrick Horgan.

Cork, though, made a whirlwind start to the second half and Horgan broke through for their first goal, beating Quilligan with an exquisite lob. Within minutes they had created two more goal chances but failed to take either of them, all of which added up in the final reckoning.

The home team led by 1-17 to 0-13 after 39 minutes, but Clare soon steadied themselves and Rodgers’s goal brought them back into it. David Reidy, who had a terrific second half, added two points in a row and the momentum of the game changed.

The teams were level for the last time, 1-20 apiece, 17 minutes into the second half, just after O’Donoghue was sent off. Cork didn’t stop and cut into Clare’s lead twice with goals in the last 10 minutes, but Clare never looked like losing control. Their season is back in their hands.

CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, E Downey, S O’Donoghue; T O’Mahony (0-1), C Joyce (0-1), R Downey (1-0); E Twomey, D Fitzgibbon (0-2); D Dalton (0-4, 3f), S Barrett, S Harnedy (0-3); B Hayes, A Connolly (0-2), P Horgan (2-10, 1-7f, 2 65s).

Subs: M Coleman for E Twomey (49 mins), R O’Flynn for Dalton (51), L Meade for Harnedy (54), S Kingston (0-1) for Hayes (59), D Cahalane for O’Mahony (65).

CLARE: E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Cleary, R Hayes; D Ryan (0-2), J Conlon, D McInerney (0-1); C Malone, C Galvin; D Fitzgerald (1-1), D Reidy, M Rodgers (1-6, 1f, 1sl); P Duggan (0-2), A McCarthy (0-10, 8f), S O’Donnell (1-1), D Reidy (0-3).

Subs: S Morey for C Galvin (52 mins); C Leen for McInerney (62), P Flanagan for Conlon (70), A Shanagher for McCarthy (70+4).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford).